How can I force the start command on a cheetah 15k.3 that uses 80pin sca?

[cirthix]

My new 72gb hp-branded cheetah 15k.3 drive spins up but doesnt make the bzzzzzzzzddddddddddt sound and gives an "asyn unit start request failed" error in the scsi device list. The drive was working fine last night and didnt show any signs of failure. Everything else in the system works great, i can swap the disk out for my old 18gb 15k.3 and everything works perfectly. Does anyone know of a way to force the drive to start before receiving the start command so it can be used properly? There are jumpers for it on the 68pin drives, but not the 80pin ones.

Just to clarify, i've used two different cables, both of which work perfectly wtih the old drive(which is identical in all respects except for disk space). The sca to 68pin scsi adapter is u320 rated. the controller is an adaptec 29160n. the whole system normally runs at u160 speeds because the controller, or pci bus, for that matter, can't handle u320.

 

[quakefiend420]

dunno, but here's a free bump

 

[spherrod]

not a clue - speak to Seagate?

 

[Peter]

Well if it IS configured to spin up automatically, but doesn't, then it's either gone fishing, or it dislikes something about its environment. Server grade SCSI drives refuse to spin up if they notice incorrect voltages, bad temperatures, or dubious SCSI cabling. If everything you see is fine, it's quite likely that it's the drive.

(And if it's not jumpered for auto-spinup, your SCSI card's BIOS should take care of it.)

Apparently its controller unit is still presenting itself to the host system. That lets you run Seagate's rather excellent "SeaTools Enterprise" diagnostics utility. It's free, registration required, from www.seagate.com - and since Seagate support will ask you to use that anyway, you might as well do so right now.

 

[Zepper]

Are you using an SCA to 68-pin adapter? If so, there is a pair of pins on the adapter that can be jumped for local or remote start. Make sure the adapter is plugged up solidly to the drive and that the cable conncector is also plugged tightly. I don't know what the earlier drive was, but if it's specs were significantly lower than the new one, then you might need a new adapter that is rated up to U-320. Hypermicro.com et al. sells them.

If the drive is in a hot-swap drive cage, then the carrier you put the drive in or the cage itself should have jumper or switch pads for setting those settings.

.bh.

 

[Peter]

If the drive has been replacing a previous one in the same SCA rack (or the same SCA-to-68pin adapter if you don't have SCA drive bays), then it'll be configured exactly like the old one. That's the beauty (and the whole point) of SCA.
But yes indeed, the jumpers aren't on the drive, they're on the SCA receptacle piece - either on the back of the drive bay, or on that adapter.

If the interface in the system is less than U320, the drive also will auto-adapt to it, partly by electrical auto-switching, partly by negotiation with the system's SCSI host adapter.

In other words, if you go replace a SCA drive, your replacement should fire up OK without reconfiguring _anything_.

 

[cirthix]

thansk guys, i found the jumpers on the sca adapter, but it still isnt working. same problem

 

[Peter]

As I said, next thing is to check cables, termination and power, and if that's all fine, there's a fat chance the drive is bad. Run SeaTools Enterprise.

 

[cirthix]

turns out that the heads were stuck. a freeze, tap drive with a hard object, use drive, heat (in oven), tap drive with a hard object, use drive cycle was all that was needed to get it up and running again.

 

[Peter]

This drive is doomed, PARTICULARLY after what you did to it. I wouldn't trust it to keep my data.